Plant Selection for Ecological Restoration in the Yellow River Estuary Wetland Based on the Soil Property

As an important ecological security barrier in northern China, the Yellow River estuary wetland faces huge pressure of ecological protection and ecological restoration. In order to enhance restoration effectiveness and achieve the national carbon neutrality strategy, this study conducts field surveys of typical plant communities, analyzes the physicochemical properties of soils in different plant communities, discusses soil organic carbon components and stability, and on this basis, the Analytic Hierarchy Process is applied to select the optimal plant species for ecological restoration in the Yellow River Estuary wetland. This study shows that: (1) The plant species diversity in the Yellow River estuary wetland is relatively low, and plant communities tend to form patchy distributions. (2) Soil organic carbon content in different plant communities ranges from 1.34 to 8.25 g/kg, accounting for only 10.96% to 48.63% of total soil carbon. Soil organic carbon mainly exists in the form of residual organic carbon, with the content of bonded organic carbon Fe(Al)-SOC being significantly higher than Ca-SOC. (3) The Analytic Hierarchy Process results suggest that the optimal plant species for ecological restoration in the Yellow River Estuary wetland are, in order of preference: Phragmites australis, Phragmites australis + Suaeda salsa, Tamarix chinensis, Suaeda glauca + Phragmites australis, Suaeda glauca + Tamarix chinensis, Suaeda salsa, and Suaeda glauca.